Barbara Swander Miller

Category: Poetry

  • Keeping Score

    “You can do anything” rang through my ears when I was growing up. It wasn’t true. I knew I’d never be  a ballerina.  But then… I never wanted to be. “You’re just like your mother and your grandmother,” my dad would exclaim in wonder. “Anything you try, you can do.” Maybe there was some truth …

  • Processing

    Finally, it’s too much. I can’t even scribble a bullet-pointed list of events. To remember. To grieve. To honor those who emerged from outside my world. My heart is full, but my head is numb, reconciling what was with what is and how I now think I know the truth and its many shades.

  • I Am Called

    Toes ever edging toward the labyrinth, I am called to tread its ancient spiral. Kicking my sandals with their daily dust aside, I hear the winding, brick-lined path beckon me closer, closer to my spirit… … and that of God, residing in my journey inward. Barbara Swander Miller June 23, 2023 Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center